With the increased popularity of quilt patterns made up of pinwheels (single/multiple), I’m taking up the topic of “nesting” those seam allowances. You know the ones I mean. Thanks to clever “slicing/dicing” techniques (cue Missouri Star Quilt Co.), we now can make wonderful quilt blocks with many pieces all converging in one center point…….perfectly!!!!!! Remember this block from here? And version #3 from here. But, then we have to turn that piece over and press it so it all lays flat and doesn’t form the dreaded “hump” that will become a quilter’s nightmare if too pronounced. Before one has a total melt-down while trying to alleviate the possibility of such an obstacle and to guarantee that your end result will look like this……………………

let me give you the solution (that is pictured above). Now, rather than “re-invent the wheel”, I have included 3 links in this post. The first is Eleanor Burns “Quilt in a Day” video for those who learn best by watching the actual technique being demonstrated. The precise part that addresses this issue is found at the 22:50 mark (22 minutes, 50 seconds) on the time elapsed bar that comes up when the curser is placed near the bottom of the video picture.

Here are 2 more links (here & here) for a photo progression of the same procedure.

I hope this helps to clear up any questions or muddles that have been experienced in the past. Now……let’s have some fun quilting! Til next time………….

Lovely! I love a NEAT underside to piecing. I solve that problem by pressing many seams open. They are not nested as such, and I don’t do it for every seam just for that reason. But pinwheels, in particular, go open for me.

It’s a very interesting little technique that, at first, I didn’t “get” but this video (you can see that Eleanor Burns is much younger!!!!!) really helps to clarify. Once you do it, I don’t think it will be forgotten….especially with all the recent patterns out there!!!!